Writing finished learning content

Unit content is the final material a learner studies, not an outline, syllabus, summary of outcomes, author note, or description of what someone else should teach. Write a complete microlesson for a learner who has mastered exactly the unit's prerequisites. Write canonical curriculum content in English; translations are maintained separately.

Teach the concept directly. Give the intuition needed to understand it and the formalism appropriate to the subject. Explain every new term, symbol, and piece of notation unless a prerequisite guarantees it. The text must stand on its own: videos, links, and other external resources may enrich it, but must not be required to learn the concept.

When seeing a concept operate materially improves understanding—such as for a calculation, proof, algorithm, program, or procedure—include a sufficiently complete worked example. Naming a technique and describing its structure without showing how it works is normally unfinished teaching. For example, “define the rule, state its formula, and mention its uses” is an outline; a finished microlesson also builds understanding and works through a meaningful application step by step.

Keep a high signal-to-noise ratio. Include enough depth to teach the concept, but remove repetition, filler, and tangents rather than turning a focused unit into a chapter. These are quality criteria, not a required section template or fixed length.

Factor knowledge for reuse

Before writing a substantial explanation, search the published curriculum to see whether that knowledge is already taught. A brief reminder can maintain continuity, but do not reteach a prerequisite as if it were new.

If an explanation is substantial and reusable, consider whether it is a separate concept that should have its own unit. When several branches need the same concept, they should converge on one shared unit through genuine prerequisite dependencies. Avoid both duplicate units and partially overlapping units with unclear boundaries; refactor the concepts until each unit has one clear educational responsibility. Do not hide prerequisite knowledge inside a unit merely to avoid representing it in the graph.

Review before submission

Review every created or modified unit as a learner who knows only its declared prerequisites:

1. Can the learner actually learn the concept from this content?
2. Are all terms, notation, and required knowledge explained or guaranteed?
3. Is any technique described without being shown sufficiently in action?
4. Does the unit repeat knowledge already taught elsewhere?
5. Is reusable knowledge hidden here that should be an independent unit?
6. Are dependencies genuine conceptual requirements rather than a preferred order?
7. Do external resources complement rather than replace the text?

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